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[7th RECON USMC]

I posted this in Africa as well (go figure)

[ This Message was edited by: 7th RECON USMC on 2002-08-11 03:30 ]

[7th RECON USMC]

Here is a lion story a little closer to home.

They have been talking about Mountain Lion sightings in central and southern Illinois and Missori for decades with an increase over the last decade. Almost mimicing the Eastern increase.

Well they've always said no body no crime..

well we finally got the body. Its more than a year old but I had just ran across it after doing some research on the growing sightings in the Midwest.

http://www.sioutdoors.com/stor.....81200.html


In addition to that the location of the kill was at 22 on this link

http://www.state.il.us/HPA/dep.....csites.htm

This would hold true to the river migration theory. Who knows return of the whitetail ...return of its predetors.... might make for some good hunting in a few decades. Let it also be noted that the Bobcat in Illinois was once thought to be virtually extict in that range has now been taken off of the endangered state species list.


[ This Message was edited by: 7th RECON USMC on 2002-08-11 03:31 ]

[moderator]

Hello 7th Recon welcome to the BGH boards!

That is an interesting link you posted. I have read several articles speculating and discussing siting of mountain lions in the midwest. However this is the first article I have read actually discussing a body.

I figured the big cats were probably there, just difficult to find. With the growing whitetail herds, I imagine we can expect more of the same in the years to come.

Thanks for posting the link, hope to see you around.

[bitmasher]

I didn't realize that any large predators were in the mid-west anymore, especially cougars!

Now if the grizzly will just make a come back... :wink:

[Ferguson]

This is only my opinion. I live in the most remote part of Missouri. I have hunted over most of the southern parts. I have coon hunted with tree dogs all my life. Yes there are a few bears in Missouri. They only had a couple hundred miles to travel to get here. The mountain lions is another story. I know they have had 2 hit on the highway. One at Fulton and the other in Kansas City. These areas are high populated areas. A friend of mine took his Missouri tree dogs to Colorado and tree'd a cat right off the bat. With cats behind every tree here in MO you'd think we could tree one here now and then. The one yound male they ran over at Fulton had a decaying squrrill in its stomach. It has maggots in it. I'm a trapper and hunter. I have never known of a cat eating rotten carcasses. I'd say this young cat was very hungry. It also had some black hair in its stomach. They sent it off to be identified. I figure it was from a calf. People throw away dead calves or give them to people for feeding animals. I'm not sure but I'd put my money this cat was from a breeder that was tired of feeding it. With the captive wildlife regulations here it would be expensive to get a cat. If I was a breeder and couldn't sell the kittens my cage door would accidently be left open if I had to feed them the amount of 3 deer in meat a week. Same goes with the one in KC. That's a little close to town for my way of thinking. There has been some pictures taken and lots of stories. I'm figuring 99.9% is hoaxes The other 1/10th of 1% are captive cats raised to make it in the wild. These stories need to be proven somehow and that would be a good way. If I were a cat lover and breeder I would want wild acting cats in the wild. This is all just my opinion. All I know is as much as I'm out and around hunting and looking, there are no sign. I have tree'd and trapped many cats here in Missouri. The largest one yet weighed 27lbs and had spots all over them with a spotted white belly.

[mister_venison]

Many years ago, around the early to mid 1980s, there were rumors that the DNR here in Wisconsin 'planted' four mountain lions on a neighbor's property in north central WI. I don't know what the DNR did or didn't do, but for several years there were sightings by people I know, and people heard them at night. We saw them several times. I never saw a complete lion, but usually it was a long brown tail crossing the road at night. Others in the immediate area did see the whole thing and were convinced. My brother and I had one growl at us once, from a dark overhang of balsam. Never saw it, but we didn't hang around to check! Haven't heard of a sighting in a long time though. I know they were there at one time, but apparently not anymore.

[yowies]

I have a Q?

I read somewhere they said Jaguars dont or shouldnt exist in Arizona..is that correct?

Because I have a photograph taken by remote sensers of a Jaguar in Arizona.

[Petzl88]

Borderland Jaguars from the Mexico state of Sonora occasionally cross the southern Arizona border

[OZSTRIKER22]

Post pics of the AZ Jag if you've got em, that'd be very interesting to see! Were they from your own Game CAM?

[lishca]

just curious- is it legal to hunt cougars in IL? or do you have to be defending your self, your family, or your livestock? i know of ppl who have claimed to have killed one, but i never seen them take it in IL, so i'm not counting it as fact.

thanks
alicia

[bitmasher]

lishca wrote: just curious- is it legal to hunt cougars in IL?


Last I heard the DNR couldn't decide whether or not cougar really existed in IL, let alone whether hunting of mountain lions was legal.

[lishca]

yeah, that's what i heard to, i was kinda shocked to see something about IL admitting bob cats!

the reason i ask is becasue the cougar "problem" doesn't stop during the winter, so some of the guys are planning a hunt, but we want to make sure we're not going to get nailed for something illegal.